Science with Pride since 1979….that means this organization has been around for 30 years!
At first it didn’t have a name. It was an idea that a gay botany professor and some of his friends had in November of 1979: an open-invitation pot-luck dinner on the second Wednesday of the month for all local gay scientists. The first meeting was a huge success. To paraphrase one attendee: “I hardly even know other people in my field of study, let alone GAY people in my field, and tonight I’ve met many! The idea became a regular event, and Los Angeles Gay Scientists was born. In just a few years, LAGS leadership tried to demonstrate inclusivity to lesbians by inserting And Lesbian into its name, and got a new acronym: LAGALS. After hearing the organization referred to one too many times as L.A. Gals, the group decided to decapitalize the conjunction and omit it from the acronym. Hence, LAGLS. The first syllable rhymes with tag, wag, and hag. Interestingly, a whole bunch of regional LAGLS-type groups sprouted up across the nation around the same time. Their first syllables were TAG, WAG, and HAG for Triangle Area Gay, Washington Area Gay, and Houston Area Gay and Lesbian Scientists.
Of course, we know that LAGLS welcomes people of all persuasions, proclivities, and personalities, even engineers, technology hobbyists, naturalists, and technophiles. Many of our current members were at those meetings in the first few years, and many of us have made LAGLS folks our extended family. That we’ve grown up together and grown older together is cause for celebration it itself. We hope you all old and new will join us in November to celebrate LAGLS 30th Anniversary at a very special venue: Ciudad, the Downtown restaurant of Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, Food Network’s ‘Too Hot Tamales.
Date: Wednesday, November 11, 7:30 pm
Where:
Ciudad Restaurant
At the Union Bank Plaza
445 S. Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA 90071
phone: 213.486.5171
Directions: www.ciudad-la.com/ciu_dir.htm
Self-Parking in the Union Bank Garage: $5 flat until 12 midnight with Ciudad validation
RSVP to the LAGLS Office by Sunday November 8
Cost: $27 per person, payable to LAGLS by check or cash. Alcoholic Beverages & parking are extra.
Menu: (make your choices at the restaurant)
Starters:
Assorted Flatbreads and Spreads
Spinach Empanda with pine nuts, raisins, manchego cheese, salsa verde
Entree: choice of
Pollo Ciudad (grilled chicken served over Cuban rice with cilantro sauce, pickled tomatos) or
Roasted Poblano Chile Relleno (stuffed with potato rajas, cotija cheese served with quinoa salad, trio of salsas)
Dessert: choice of
Barcelona Chocolate Cake or
Goat Milk Cajeta Flan
Beverages: soft drinks, iced teas included